The present invention relates in general to radial piston machines, such as radial piston pumps or radial piston engines, and in particular to a machine of the type having a housing enclosing a rotary shaft formed with an eccentric, a plurality of radial pistons provided with stationary connecting rods and with movable cylinders slidably engaging the eccentric and being guided in radial direction by the pistons.
In a prior-art radial piston machine of the above described type, the hollow pistons are supported in the housing by spherical or cup-shaped elements engaging the ends of the pistons which are remote from the rotary shaft. Such a prior-art machine is disclosed for example in the German patent publication No. 19 43 163. This arrangement requires an increased space occupied by the machine; nonetheless, the effective value of the cylinder-and-piston units utilized during the operation of the machine is relatively small.